


Serenity

by smileyjunior



Category: The Killing
Genre: Addiction, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Explicit Language, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Kidnapping, Murder, Murder Mystery, Mystery, Non-Consensual Drug Use, kidnappings
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-02
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 00:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 11,173
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29144118
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smileyjunior/pseuds/smileyjunior
Summary: Sarah catches a case on a day that Holder doesn’t show up for work. What follows is an intense chase to catch a killer.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 3





	1. Day 1

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to possibly what is the longest story I have ever written. 
> 
> I just want to do right by these characters.  
> (Hit me up Veena!)

November 15, 2013  
Day 1

Detective Sarah Linden brought a cigarette up to her dry lips and took a long drag savoring the nicotine rush. With a slow exhaling breath the smoke streamed out of her nostrils and mouth, though the difference between the smoke and her breath was hard to tell in the vastly cold Seattle weather. She was standing outside of the Seattle Police Department downtown wearing a fisherman knit dark red sweater underneath her rain jacket which was proving useful with the light drizzle that was currently falling from the sky.

The Rosie Larsen case had wrapped up two months ago, since then Sarah had continued working at S.P.D. despite her initial thought that she’d be done with the job. Linden was a detective, it was she was good at—to a fault no doubt, but she had been doing better these past two months. She had even bought a house out on Vashon Island, quite spacious and with a spare room so her son could stay with her when he visited from Chicago. These days Sarah was doing everything right.

Unlike her partner Stephen Holder. Or at least that’s how she felt at the moment. He was thirty minutes late for his shift and hadn’t communicated with her in any way shape or form and she was not amused.

Holder was a great cop, and had managed to show that he could be a decent detective. His work during the Rosie Larsen case had definitely proven that, and so had his work since then. No case had been as big as Rosie Larsen but the pair of detectives had solved 3 murders since and the work he’d done had been impeccable. Sure Holder could be annoying at times, but Linden had gotten used to his antics and had even learned to tolerate some of his more extreme characteristics.

Linden dropped the last of the cig and stomped on it with her boot before going inside the precinct. As she opened the doors a wave of noise washed over her, the building was alive with activity. Uni’s were constantly heading in and out of rooms, lieutenants ran around with paperwork going up and down the elevators to their different departments, detectives came up from the morgue downstairs and went to continue their investigations either heading outside or to their offices. Just another day at the Seattle Police Department.

Homicide was on the first floor and Sarah and Holder’s office was just down and around the hallway. She walked past the front desk and down the hall passing by some interrogation rooms and the conference room before she made a right at the end of the hallway then a left into their office.

Sarah flipped the switch to turn the lights on then took off her jacket and hung it on the coat rack by the door. The remnants of their last case were still strewn about the room waiting to be dismantled. They had to deconstruct the whiteboard and finish repacking the files for storage. She looked over at the clock at saw that it was almost 10 a.m.

Sarah pursed her lips and thought for a moment, her irritation at the lack of Holder’s communication growing even more. Making a decision she sat down behind her desk and pulled out her cell phone to make a call.

It rang three times before the ringing stopped and a loud staticky sound came through the speaker making her wince. “Holder? You there?”

A cough and then a response: “‘ _Sup Linden?_ ”

His voice sounded rather hoarse, but that didn’t deter her annoyance. “You know what time it is?”

“ _Yeah, yeah look sorry I-I can’t come in today. Not feelin’ too well you know?_ ”

Crossing her arms she shook her head. “Alright, well thanks for the heads up,” she did her best to sound sarcastic as spoke.

“ _Yeah no prob._ ” Based on the flippancy in his response he clearly hadn’t received the message.

“Holder?” Sarah said pointedly. “Maybe next time let me know.”

“ _I gotcha. Won’t happen again._ ” The phone clicked and the call ended.

Linden put her phone down fighting the urge to groan now that she had to wrap up the case by herself. She stood up and went to the whiteboard and began to take down the pictures one by one before moving onto filing the paperwork.

Just after noon as she was finishing up, the phone on her desk rang and Sarah went over to answer it still clutching a file in her hand. “Detective Linden.”

“ _Seattle P.D. Dispatch, a body has been found in Ranier Valley at the Atlantic City Boat Ramp. Your lieutenant says you and your partner are up in rotation._ ”

“Alright thanks.” She put the phone back on the receiver and threw the file down then went to grab her jacket.

——

“Mom! I can’t find my sweater!”

“Did you check the closet?” Amy didn’t answer back, and a playful smile teased the corners of her mom’s lips.

Daphne Kelly stood at her kitchen counter packing away a peanut butter sandwich. Daphne had fading brown hair that she wore in a loose bun and brown eyes that were starting to show wrinkles underneath. Her oversized gray sweater hid her curves that became more pronounced with the pair of jeans she wore underneath.

“I found it!” Amy yelled from upstairs minutes later.

“Well then come down so you won’t be late!”

A thundering of footsteps followed as Amy ran downstairs and into the kitchen. Amy was 10-years-old had shoulder-length dark brown hair and brown eyes that sparkled everywhere she went. She wore a colorful sweater with a pair of jeans and a backpack that jiggled with her movement. Amy grabbed the sandwich off of the counter and turned right around to head down the hallway. “Bye mom love you!”

“Amy wait!”

The kid screeched to stop and froze, Daphne laughed at her absurdity and walked over to plant a kiss on her head. “I love you.”

“Love you too!” Then Amy was out the door and gone.

Daphne went back into the kitchen to clean up. A much softer sounding pair of footsteps made their down the stairs and into the kitchen. Mark Kelly had gray hair and kind brown eyes behind a pair of glasses. He smiled at Daphne and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Did I miss her again?”

“Just now,” Daphne nodded. “She almost missed the bus today.”

“Please, if she ever missed the bus that kid would be able to catch up by running after it.”

Daphne laughed as she wrapped her arms around Mark’s neck. “You’re probably right.”

——

Much like any other city, crime in King County tended to be heavier in certain neighborhoods of the city more than others. Ranier Valley, a city on the Eastside was one of the neighborhoods that had been known to be plagued by heavier criminal activity.

From the precinct Sarah drove about 20-minutes to the Atlantic City Boat Ramp on Lake Washington, right next to Be’er Sheva Park. When she pulled up the crime scene tape was blocking off a section of the boat ramp’s parking lot, the park entrance, and an area of grass. There were a few patrol cars lit up, with some uni’s standing around. An ambulance was off the side a good distance away from the crime scene on the other side of the parking lot, but there were a few patrols were over there as well. Then the CSU’s and the coroner seemed be over in the grass from what Linden could see, not as near the boat ramp as it was closer to the park.

All in all everything looked spread out, maybe even more so than usual.

Sarah turned off the engine and got out of the car making her way over to the crime scene tape and unclipping her badge from her belt. Seagulls were crying and flying overhead, occasionally diving down to the water. The cop standing in front of the crime scene tape took one look at her badge and lifted the tape for her to duck under. She could see the coroner kneeling in the wet grass next to the lake and went straight in that direction.

At first glance there didn’t appear to be anything wrong with the woman on the ground, apart from the fact that she was deceased. Sarah looked at the coroner. “What do we got?”

The coroner put his gloves hands on his knees and stood up slowly before turning to face her and giving a small nod in greeting. “Detective,” his eyes traveled behind her and a questioning look crossed his face, “don’t you usually have a partner nowadays?”

Sarah’s intense expression didn’t change as she quickly replied, “Not today.” Then she nodded towards the body behind the coroner. “What about yours?”

A flicker of amusement flashed in the coroner’s eyes before he turned and beckoned the detective forward. “Female, late twenties, no obvious cause of death that I can see and she appears to be mostly healthy.”

“Mostly?”

He gently lifted the limp woman’s wrist. “There appears to be some bruising around both of her wrists, if I was a betting man I’d say she’d been tied up at some point.”

As Sarah looked closely she agreed with the assessment even taking note just how deep the bruising seemed to be. “No ID?”

The coroner shook his head. “None that we could find.”

“Who found her?”

He paled and met her eyes. “Little boy did, he’d been playing in the park.” He nodded towards the ambulance and suddenly Sarah understood why it was parked so far away. “They were keeping him around so he could talk to you.”

She sighed as she gazed at the woman on the ground one last time and nodded, “Thanks. Give me a call when I can come see her, yeah?”

After the coroner nodded in agreement Detective Linden stood up and walked over to the ambulance. As she got closer she could see a uni talking to someone in the back of the ambulance, and next to the uni was a man just over six feet tall with salt and pepper hair. He stood with his arms crossed but rather relaxed with a small smile on his face. The man looked up as she got closer and the smile disappeared, replaced with apprehension. The uni looked around as well and stepped back when he recognized her, leaving the back of the vehicle in full view.

There was a small boy, maybe six or seven, with dirty blond hair and big brown eyes wrapped in a blanket that made him look even smaller than he actually was. On his head was the uni’s hat and he was goggling at the uni’s badge that he held in his hands, one was wrapped in a bandage. The boy was the last one to notice Sarah approaching them, he had tried to return the badge and looked up to see her.

A small closed-lip smile graced her lips, and she held out her hand. “I can take that for you.”

The boy looked at her his mouth slightly agape, but he nodded and passed her the badge. She turned and gave it back to the uni who nodded his thanks and stepped away leaving Linden with the two civilians. Her attention was directed first onto the tall man who still stood by the boy’s side. “My name is Detective Linden, who are you?”

The man cleared his throat. “My name is Homer Shelton. Are you the person we’ve been waiting for?”

She dipped her head. “Sure am.” Sarah looked back at the boy and spoke in a light tone. “And who’s this?”

“This is my son Parker,” said Homer placing a hand on Parker’s shoulder. Parker was still looking at Sarah a little dumbstruck.

“Hi Parker, it’s nice to meet you.” Parker nodded but didn’t speak. “Would it be alright if I asked you a few questions about what you found?” Again, no words but he nodded. “Can you tell me what happened?”

Parker took a big exaggerated breath before speaking. “I was playing on the play ground, and the birds, there was a lotta them. I went over to the birds, and they flew away and I saw the lady. I tried talking to her but she didn’t talk back. I tried shaking her awake but that didn’t work, and she was cold. I went to get daddy and the birds tried to come back but I wanted them to leave her alone, so I tried to make them go away and I got pecked. I started crying and daddy came. When he saw the lady he got scared and took me away.”

Sarah looked up at Homer who bobbed his head, “Once I got Parker clear I called 911.”

“Alright,” Sarah nodded her thanks. “I’m going to have the officer come back over, take your official statements, contact information, and then you’ll be free to go.” She looked back at Parker. “Thank you very much for your help. You did very good.”

Parker’s face lit up in a bright smile. Sarah pivoted to go back to the scene when she heard Parker speak again. “They stole from her daddy. I forgot that part.”

Sarah stopped dead in her tracks and turned to the boy with a furrowed brow. “What do you mean?”

“The birds!” Parker spoke much more lively now, proud that he had helped the police. “They stole something from her!”

“What did they steal?” Sarah walked back over to the father and son. The look on Homer’s face told her this was the first time he was hearing about this.

“Um, it’s like what daddy has. Where he keeps money.”

“Her wallet?” Parker didn’t understand. Sarah reached into her pocket and pulled out her wallet. “Like this?”

The boy nodded, “Yup! But they dropped it, I saw them drop it.”

“Where?”

“There!” Parker pointed over at Lake Washington, and Sarah looked out to the water.

“Do you know where?” She asked without taking her eyes off of the lake.

Parker hopped down from the ambulance and ran towards the water, Sarah realized just a moment too late.

“Parker!” Homer yelled.

Sarah saw the boy running and realized the kid had taken her words too literally. “Shit!” She tore off after him, but the kid was unusually fast and had a far lead. She turned to the group of cops by the crime scene but none of them were aware of the situation unfolding. As loudly as she could she yelled, “Hey! Stop! No!”

That drew the attention of the other cops, some of them had even went to grab their Glocks. They saw what Linden was running towards and sprang into action. Parker had made it to the water but Sarah was almost there. He was shoulder deep when she plowed through the freezing lake, her jeans heavy and soaked as it reached to just below her waist. Her arms wrapped around Parker, scooping him up and holding him above the surface. One uni had followed her into the lake and came up right behind her taking the boy out of her hands as she caught her breath.

When she turned around she saw Parker being delivered back to Homer, and a line of cops standing on the shoreline. Irked, Sarah began to trudge back to the shore when her foot slipped on a smooth rock and she fell back putting her arms out to catch herself as she fell back on her ass. There were several cries of, “Detective?!” from the cops on shore, which she didn’t immediately respond to out of sheer embarrassment. She didn’t want one of the uni’s to come after her and help her out of the water like some damsel, so she held up a hand. “I’m fine!”

Sarah pushed some water off of her face and moved to her knees to stand up up when her hand came into contact with something that couldn’t be a rock. She pulled it out of the water and found herself looking at a thin brown wallet. When she opened it she found herself staring the the victim back on shore.

Well, then.

Detective Linden walked back to shore clutching the wallet in her hand. The line of cops still stood there apparently unaware of they were supposed to do. She handed the wallet to the uni who had gone into the water to get Parker. Looking him straight in the eye she said, “Bag and tag this.”

——

Raphael Iona had lived in Seattle for three years now, but after growing up in Honolulu he’d come to the conclusion that he’d never get used to the brutal cold weather the rainy city usually dumped on him. The young man drove his Buick GNX up to a small brick building that he had come to know well. He stepped out of his car and waved to a group of people ahead who beckoned him to join them.

“Yo, Raph! Raphael! You comin’?” One of the men yelled to him.

“Be right there!” Just as he was about to join them, Raphael’s eye spotted a car that was parked not too far away. The young man’s brows furrowed in confusion; he recognized that car.

When the kid didn’t go over, the man who had called his name jogged over to him. Muscular, big chested, and balding the guy looked like he’d be ready to beat anyone up, but on the inside Steve Thomas was a gentle soul. He placed a hand on Raphael’s shoulder. “You good Raph?”

The contact jerked the kid out of his reverie, and he nodded. “Yeah man my bad. Got lost in thought or whatevs you know.”

Steve patted Raphael on the shoulder and steered him towards the rest of the group. Raphael glanced back at the car.

——

Sarah walked back into the S.P.D. precinct still semi shivering and fairly soaked. She could feel the stares of her peers at her appearance, her ponytail and jacket dripping water on the floor. As she walked down the hallway she passed Ray, a police tech whom she had always worked well with. He took one look at her and couldn’t hide his shock. “Linden?”

She looked up at him and lifted her chin in lieu of waving. “Hey Ray.”

“Are... are you...” he looked her up and down, her clothing still water logged.

“Would you mind getting me a towel or two from the locker room, I’d appreciate it.”

He nodded. “Yeah no problem.” That was what Sarah liked most about the tech. He didn’t ask a lot of question.

Sarah continued down the hall to her office and as soon as she was inside she removed her jacket and hung it up by the door. She took her phone out of the jacket pocket and slammed it rather hard on her desk; when things had calmed down after Parker’s attempted help, she had pulled out her phone to find it completely unresponsive. Her wool sweater was soaked, the light grey color had turned dark along with white and black pattern across the chest. She removed it as well and laid it across Holder’s unoccupied desk leaving her wearing only a wet grey t-shirt. A knock at the door announced Ray’s arrival and she went to retrieve the towels and nodded her thanks to him before shutting the door once more.

She’d squeezed her hair out once she had gotten out of the lake but somehow her hair still seemed to be soaked so she took of her ponytail and toweled her hair, the other towel she just wrapped around her shoulders before sitting down behind her computer to get to work.

The wallet from the lake had identified the victim as Jessica Kelly, a 28-year-old woman with an address listed near Yesler Terrace. As Sarah began a criminal history search the results came back nil but did show a sealed juvie record that she would only be able to view with a court order. Sarah looked at the smiling woman in the DMV photo, unsure exactly what it was she was looking for a just yet.

Another knock knock at the office door drew her attention as it opened, a uni stood in the doorway with a box in hand. “CSU said to bring this to you Detective.”

Linden put down the towel and stood up to retrieve the box. “Thanks.” She took the box back over to her desk and removed the lid to look at the contents inside. A file of photographs drew her attention first and she removed them to put it aside. Next was an analysis of the crime scene, only three pages long. Sarah went back to her computer and printed out Jessica’s DMV photo, the went to the whiteboard and grabbed the dry erase marker from the tray beneath the board to write “Jessica Kelly” at the top. Then she retrieved the picture and put it underneath the written name.

After that Sarah put up all of the crime scene photos and the report, labeling things that stuck out. The most obvious being, what was Jessica’s Kelly doing all the way in Ranier Valley? Yesler Terrace was near downtown, and Rainier Valley was far east, so why had she been found so far from home? She pinned the picture of Jessica’s bruised wrists and made sure to note that it looked like she had been captive at some point. The coroner could let them know if more evidence of that had been found.

Detective Linden stepped back to take a look at her work. The details on the board were pretty skim but they usually were at the beginning of an investigation. Hopefully they’d have more soon, especially when the coroner reached out and could tell them cause of death.

Linden went back to her computer, the next step would be to contact next of kin. As she searched she couldn’t find a record of any sort of marriage license, so the closest relative were Jessica’s parents. Mark and Daphne Kelly lived in Granite Falls, Washington just under an hour outside of Seattle. There wasn’t any contact information for them on file that she had immediate access to, so Sarah picked up her desk phone and dialed an extension before putting the phone to her ear.

“Tech lab, this is Ray.”

“Hey Ray it’s Linden. I’m going to give you two names and I’m going to need their contact information right away.”

“You got it, what are they?”

“Mark and Daphne Kelly, they live in Granite Falls.”

There was brief pause before Ray spoke again, “Alright just give me one minute.”

“Thanks Ray.” Sarah put the phone back in the cradle before moving the mouse on the computer and printing out the page. By the time it had printed Ray knocked on the door holding out a sheet of paper and walking it over to her. Sarah gave him a small smile, “Thanks again.”

“Don’t mention it.” Ray smiled and closed the door behind him.

Linden stared at the phone number on the paper with a feeling of trepidation. She picked up the phone off of the desk again, part of her hoping no one on the other line would pick up. Then she squashed that feeling quickly knowing how unrealistic and childish it was to think such a thing. She dialed the number and pressed the phone to her ear, waiting and listening as it rang.

“ _Hello?_ ” The female voice couldn’t belong to an adult, it sounded as though it belonged to a very young girl.

Sarah shifted in her seat and her tongue darted out to wet her lips. “May I please speak to Mr. or Mrs. Kelly?”

“ _Oh yeah,_ ” there was a small rustling noise, “ _MOOOOOM! DAAAAD!_ ” Sarah had to pull the phone away from her ear, and even after she did she could hear the girls voice coming through the speaker.

There was more rustling, and a muted conversation before someone spoke into the phone again. “ _Hello?_ ” This time the voice belonged to a grown man.

Sarah put the phone back to her ear. “Am I speaking to Mark Kelly?”

“ _You are,_ ” he said with a smile that could be heard in his voice, “ _may I ask who’s calling?_ ”

Sarah swallowed before continuing. “Mr. Kelly, I’m Detective Linden I worked with the Seattle Police Department and it’s very important that I speak with you and Mrs. Kelly right away.”

The man didn’t answer right away, and for a moment Linden wondered if he’d hung up. But then in a croaky voice, Mark spoke again. “ _It’s Jess, isn’t it? Something’s happened._ ”

Eyes closing briefly and her jaw clenching, Sarah found herself taking a deep breath. “Mr. Kelly, this isn’t something you want to hear over the phone.”

“ _Please just tell me._ ” His voice shook as he spoke.

Sarah’s jaw clenched. “I’m sorry to tell you that Jessica’s body was found this morning. We’ll need you and your wife to come to Seattle to identify her, and I’ll also need to ask you both some questions.” Once again, there was no immediate response, and when Sarah didn’t hear anything after a full minute she cleared her throat. “Mr. Kelly?”

“ _I’m here,_ ” he said in a strained voice. “ _Today?_ ”

“Yes sir, that would be best.”

There was an audible shaky breath. “ _Okay, we’ll come now._ ” Then the phone clicked off.

——

The coroner had just begun to unbutton Jessica’s shirt when the door to the theater opened and the coroner looked up to see Detective Linden approaching and narrowed his eyes. “I’m not ready for you detective.”

“The parents are here,” she said with tight lips and lines between her eyes, “to ID her.”

Frustrated the coroner made a notice at the back of his throat and closed his eyes letting his head droop. “Fine.”

Linden turned and went back into the hallway as the coroner put the sheet above Jessica’s head. When the door opened again and he saw the detective was joined by two individuals, Mr. Kelly and clutching his arm was Mrs. Kelly. Both pairs of eyes were glued to the white sheet on the slab. Mr. Kelly looked up and met the coroner’s eye, he gave him a small nod and grabbed the white sheet preparing to pull. At Mr. Kelly’s consent the sheet lifted and Jessica’s face was shown. Mrs. Kelly turned into her husband crying, Mr. Kelly confirmed it was Jessica in a small voice wrapping his arms around his wife.

The coroner replaced the sheet.

——

Back upstairs in one of the interrogation rooms Sarah sat across from Mark and Daphne Kelly with a notebook and pen.

“I’ll try to make this very brief Mr. and Mrs. Kelly,” the detective said. “When was the last time you spoke to Jessica?”

The married couple exchanged a glance with one another. “A year? A year and half maybe.” Mark answered.

Sarah’s narrowed slightly in suspicion. “Why so long?”

“Jess had issues and wasn’t trying to get better,” said Mark looking sorrowful. “Drugs.”

“We have a younger daughter to take care of,” explained Daphne, “we couldn’t let Jess influence her. So we told her to stay away until she decided to do better.” Tears fell from the woman’s eyes.

“She was still doing drugs then?” asked Sarah.

“As far as we know,” Mark nodded.

“Do you know if she had any friends, or who her dealer was?”

He wagged his head from side to side. “No. We tried to stay away from that aspect of her life.”

“Had she tried to get in touch with either of you recently?”

“No,” Daphne shook her head.

“What about a relationship? Boyfriend? Girlfriend?”

“We weren’t talking,” Daphne said firmly. “We wanted her to get better. I missed my daughter. And now I’ll never see her again.” And with that she broke down into tears. Mark gently rubbed his hand on her back.

Sarah knew she wasn’t going to get anything else out of them tonight. She took a business card from the notebook and slid it across the table. “That’s all I have for now, I’ll be in touch. If you have any questions or remember anything please call me at that number, all right?”

Mark nodded and took the business card before helping his wife to her feet. Sarah stood as well and went to the door to hold it open. “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

——

Mark and Daphne drive at night, Daphne’s head was pressed against the cold window, her eyes red and tears streaming down her cheeks. Mark’s face was troubled but he kept a firm grip on the steering wheel. Hanging from the rear view mirror is a picture of Jessica with a little girl who looks just like her.

——

In an apartment in Capitol Hill, everything was still. The front door was bolted and the lights were off except for a dim one lit below the microwave. To the right down the hall the door to the bedroom is open ajar and inside on the king sized bed lying motionless was Stephen Holder.


	2. Day 2

November 16, 2013  
Day 2

Sarah still didn’t have a phone after the debacle at Lake Washington the previous day, so when she had arrived at work the next morning and didn’t see Holder again, in a fit of annoyance she jumped back in her car and drove to his place in Capitol Hill. Which was less then ten minutes away from the precinct anyway.

When she drove into the apartment complex and parked she headed straight up to his unit and knocked on the door no-too-lightly. When he didn’t answer after a few minutes, she reached down to the green flower pot where he had once told her he kept the spare key. Just as she was about to put the spare key into the keyhole the door swung open and there stood Stephen Holder. Looking like absolute shit.

“What the hell happened to you?” asked Sarah. 

His eyes looked sunken and he was holding himself in a peculiar way that she had never seen before. He looked just as confused by her presence at his front door as she did by his appearance but he did a better job of recovering just as well. “‘Sup Linden?” 

Her eyes narrowed at his casual demeanor, surprise at his appearance forgotten. “We’re you planning on coming to work today?”

Holder’s eyes widened comically. “Oh fuck—yeah ‘course!” He stuck his hands in the pockets of his hoodie. “That’s my bad Linden, lost track of the time.”

When he didn’t move to get ready she threw her hand up in a frustrated gesture. “So can we go?”

“Fo sho, lemme just get my jacket.” He took a few steps into his living room and picked up his jacket then walked out to join her and locked the door.

Holder was lagging behind by the time they were out in the parking lot, Sarah looked behind and saw him trying to catch up. “Are you hungover?”

“What? No!” He stepped beside her and glared. “The hell you ask me that for?”

He seemed to be legitimately insulted, she shook her head and headed to the car. “C’mon we have work to do.”

“We got a case?” 

“Yeah,” she opened the car door and waited for him to get to the passenger door, “we have to go to the victim’s apartment in Yesler Terrace.”

Holder bobbed his head and opened the car door. “Alright then.”

——

The drive to Jessica’s apartment took less then ten minutes. Sarah stopped the car in front of a four-story building, the first floor had blueish-grey siding with a cobblestone entrance and the rest of the building was brick. The windows on each floor above the cobblestone entrance had dirty white shutters but none of the windows on the first floor did. Sarah and Holder both climbed out of the car looking up at the building. 

“What floor was she on?” asked Holder his eyes not leaving the building.

“203,” Sarah said walked towards the building. “Second floor.”

The detectives made their way inside and retrieved Jessica’s apartment key from the super before making their way to 203. Standing outside of the apartment Linden turned the key in the lock and the door swung open. They stepped into a hallway with vinyl flooring that led to a living space on the left and a kitchen to the right. There was a black sofa with a side table topped with magazines and a rather inexpensive looking television against the opposite wall. The kitchen was small, with the bare essentials and some dirty dishes in the sink. Double doors led out to a patio which looked down into a brick courtyard with a fountain and some tables. Then a door next to the kitchen led into a bedroom and bathroom. 

“I’ll get the bedroom if you get out here,” said Linden giving the room a once over. When Holder didn’t respond she turned sharply to look at him. “Holder... hey!” 

He spun around to face her and saw the dangerous look on her face. “Yo my bad just got real focused y’a know?”

Sarah didn’t respond and went into the bedroom annoyed. The bed was unmade, and the side table had more magazines on top of it, but other then that Sarah couldn’t find anything of big importance. She was just headed to the bathroom when she heard Holder call her name. “Yo Linden! Come check this.”

She walked back out to see Holder in the kitchen looking at something on the refrigerator. “What is it?”

“Home girl had a job,” he said pulling off a sheet of paper that had been attached to the fridge with a magnet. As Sarah examined it she saw a cartoon drawing of a chef with thick mustache next to bubbled letters that read “Work Schedule” for a pizzeria in Capitol Hill. “Yeah I know this place. According to this she’s supposed to be at work in 30-minutes.”

“Alright, let’s finish up here then head over there.”

“Alright boss.”

After 20-minutes Sarah pulled the plug. “I’ll call CSU, they might find something we missed.”

“Nah I’ll call ‘em. You drive.”

Sarah looked at her partner suspiciously. After all the times he had fought her on the fact that he wanted to drive she could believe that he’d just given up the opportunity to do so. They didn’t have time to pursue it though.

——

Amy was playing outside with the neighborhood kids, none the wiser. Mark and Daphne sat in their living room, their curtains drawn and the lights dimmed. There were two touched glasses of red wine sat in front of each of them on the coffee table. 

“Do you think...” Daphne started to say, her voice trembling and shaky. Her eyes were red and she clutched the blanket on her lap tightly as though she were afraid it would slip away.

“What?” Mark turned his head to look at her, but Daphne didn’t move. Her gaze was fixed on the wall ahead, seeing nothing. And yet at the same time, everything.

“Did we fail her?” 

Mark didn’t look away from Daphne for moment, until he sighed and shook his head. “I don’t know Daph... maybe? Maybe not? We tried, we did... did everything I think that we could. It’s been years.”

Daphne didn’t say anything to that and the couple sat in silence for a while, listening to the screams of delight and laughter of the children playing out side. Both of them lost in their own thoughts and memories.

“She looked so peaceful,” Daphne said her glassy and wide. “Lying there... maybe the most peaceful she’s ever been. Jessica, our Jess... she’s, gone.”

Mark didn’t say anything. 

——

Sarah and Holder pulled up outside a small pizza shop in Capitol Hill. 

“Yo they got some dope pies here,” said Holder climbing out of the car and walking up into the curb. 

Once Sarah had gotten out as well they stepped over to the gated door and window of the pizza place. A sign above had the name of the establishment in red and green lettering and there was a red awning advertising beer and pizza by the slice. It wasn’t quite 11 o’clock yet and the place didn’t open until 11:30 a.m. but as the detectives stepped up to the window they could see at least two people inside getting ready for the business day. 

Sarah raised a hand and knocked firmly on the glass drawing the attention of a heavy-set man inside. As he stepped closer to the window they could see he was wearing an apron with some grease stains and he had a receding hairline that was visible even with the hairnet he wore. Instead of opening the door he yelled through the barrier. “Closed!”

Holder and Linden both pulled out their shields and held them up for the man to see. As the man’s eyes fell on the badges, he seemed to deflate and yelled something behind him to the other person inside before unlocking the door and swinging it open.

“Just a sec,” he said in a thick Brooklyn accent, reaching inside of his pocket and pulling out a ring of keys. He unlocked the gate and pulled to make an opening before stepping aside, “come on in.” 

Once the detectives were inside the man closed the gate and door again. Sarah and Holder waited for him just a few feet away. The man put the keys back into his apron pocket and crossed his arms as he looked at the two of them. “How can I help you?”

“Does Jessica Kelly work here?” asked Holder with his hands in pockets.

“Matter of fact she does,” the man nodded. “She’s supposed to be here soon, what’s this about? Jess in some sort of trouble?”

“She’s dead.”

The man’s face was one of pure shock, and for a moment he swayed and it looked as though he were going to faint. The moment passed quickly though, and he cleared his throat. “I’m very sorry to hear that. Jess was a great gal and a hard worker.”

“What’s your name?” Sarah asked.

“Mario Mancini,” he said before looking away and rubbing his nose. “Such a damn shame... she was really turning a new leaf y’a know? Trying to get back in with her family.”

“How do you mean?”

Mancini looked wary, he crossed his arms and sighed. “Jess had drug problems alright? When she came to me for the job, she was at rock bottom. A complete and utter wreck. But she getting better, even started talking about reaching out to her family again kept talking about Amy, how she couldn’t wait to see her. I figured it was her little sister, her face lit up whenever she talked about her,” he shook his head. “It ain’t right, it just...”

Holder shifted his feet. “When was the last time you saw her?”

“Her last shift was 2 days ago, she worked from open to close. I always made sure she got in her car alright, we don’t got a parking garage so all employees gotta park on the street. I watched her drive away.”

“Do you know if she’d been havin’ any problems with anybody? Maybe she was actin’ differently?”

Mancini shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

Holder looked over at Linden who glanced back at him before turning her attention back to Mancini. “That’s all we have for now. If we could just get your contact information we’ll head out.” 

——

A tall young black man with dreadlocks that reached his shoulders stepped outside of a classroom and walked down the hallways with his cell phone in his hand.

“Furnell!”

The man, Furnell, turned to see Candace, a freckle-faced dark red headed young woman, trying to catch up with him. “Wait up!” 

A smile spread across Furnell’s face. “You comin’?”

Candace caught up, slight out of breath but smiling nonetheless. “You know it.”

He turned and kept walking, “What’d your professor say?”

“Nothing really,” she waved a hand nonchalantly, “just to make sure I caught up on the lesson and did the work. What about yours?”

Furnell chuckled and glanced over at her. “I thought he was gonna shit himself, didn’t seem to believe me when I said where I was goin’.”

They laughed as they continued walking down the hallway.

——

The morgue was located in the basement of the police department. A stairwell to the left of the lobby led down to a windowless hallway with bright fluorescent lighting that went down the hallway outside of the morgue. Detective’s Holder and Linden walked down the staircase and down the hall to a set of double doors on the left that left to the autopsy theater.

When they walked inside the theater the coroner was standing next to a slab with a body on it, thought it was hard to see because the light above the slab wasn’t on. The coroner looked up as he saw the detectives approaching.

“Alright detectives, this ones a doozy.” The coroner flipped the light on overhead so that Jessica Kelly’s body was fully illuminated and visible. She was naked but was mostly covered by a white sheet, and her face looked peaceful, although from what Sarah could see her death was anything but that. 

What they could see of her body was littered in bruises, because she had been clothed before they’d been unable to see the contusions. In addition to the ligature marks around her wrists that Sarah had seen at the crime scene, she could now see similar ligature marks around her ankles by her feet sticking out from the white sheet.

“What happened to her?” Sarah asked her eyes cutting over to the coroner. 

“Looks like she was held captive and beaten, possibly tortured.” The coroner reached over to Jessica’s arm and turned it over revealing small burn marks. “Cigarette burns.”

“Cause of death?”

“Now that’s where it gets peculiar.”

“How so?” Holder asked speaking for the first time.

“She died of an overdose.”

“Crystal?”

The coroner shook his head. “Heroine. I found puncture wounds in her arm.”

A short breath escaped from Sarah’s nose. “Is there any way to tell whether or not she was forced to take the drugs?”

“She was tied up Linden,” Holder said quietly, “I don’t think it was voluntary.”

“There’s something else.” The coroner said looking grim. Both detectives looked at him expectantly. He gripped the side of the sheet. “I found this.” 

The coroner pulled up the sheet to reveal part of Jessica’s stomach and revealed a gruesome looking brand, the skin was raised and stark red forming the letter “A” about the size of a fist.

“She was branded?” Linden examined the mark and looked at the coroner for confirmation. 

“Yes. This was not post-mortem, she was alive when this was done.”

“What does the “A” mean?” Sarah mused looked back at the brand. “Anarchy, maybe? Killer going on the loose?”

“Linden.” Holder’s voice was sharp and demanding. Sarah turned and saw he looked afflicted. Without another word, Holder walked out of the theater. Holy uncharacteristic of him.

“Holder!” She glanced back at the coroner who had frozen holding the sheet up and looking utterly confused. Sarah looked back towards the door and headed towards it calling over her shoulder, “Thanks for your help.”

When she threw open the doors of the theater, she just caught Holder’s feet going up the stairs to the precinct. Moving quickly to catch up Sarah semi-jogged up the stairs and met him at the top. Holder went straight down the hall, and now Sarah was really getting ticked off. Her lips pressed hard together and her eyes narrowed. 

Holder was pacing in their office when she caught up with him. “What the hell was that?!” Sarah yelled. Instead of answering her Holder went to the door and shut it, then he pulled down the blinds to the window that looked in on their office. 

His silence was infuriating. “Holder, what the f—”

“Just stop!” He snapped running a hand over his mouth and hair. “Just... just wait.”

Sarah clenched her jaw about to explode. Holder continued to pace for a while more and then shook his head. “The “A” don’t stand for anarchy.”

“How do you know?” Sarah bit back.

——

Furnell walked through the parking garage towards his car. His phone started to ring in his pocket as he saw his car emerge up ahead. Reaching into his pocket, Furnell took his phone and put it to his ear to answer. “Hello?”

There was no reply. Bewildered he looked at the phone and saw that the call had dropped.

——

Sitting at home in bed, Daphne Kelly looked around to be sure Mark was still in the restroom then she pulled out her phone and opened her messages. Jessica’s name was at the very top, with a simple text saying: Please call me.

The toilet flushed and Daphne quickly deleted the message.  
——

Holder took a shaky breath, and with trembling hands started to pull up his hoodie. When Sarah began to object he just shook his head and winced as he moved his arms up. As the hoodie rose purplish bruising against Holder’s skin became visible and to the right of his bellybutton, was a horrible looking wound just like Jessica’s. He avoided Sarah’s gaze.

“The “A”... it stands for addict.”


	3. Day 2 (cont’d) & 3

Sarah’s eyes hadn’t left the “A” that was burned into Holder’s skin since he had revealed it. The anger she had felt towards him moments ago had dissipated, replaced with disbelief and confusion. Finally she looked up into his eyes her mouth slightly open with a questioning look. “Holder...”

“Day before yesterday, I’d just got out of an NA meeting and was headed back to my car when someone thumped me on the back of the head and I blacked out. I woke up I tied to a chair, real tight, could barely move. And this guy tells me no matter what I say I’ll always be an addict and I wasn’t foolin’ anyone. He picked up this iron and told me that he was gonna mark me so that I couldn’t ever hide from who I was.

“He was whaling on me, you called, he put a gun to my head and told me to tell you something that would ya know throw you off or whatevs. He put some meth and a small tube down in front of me and told me to take it.”

“Did you?” asked Sarah.

“Nah... I told him to go fuck himself. He whaled on me a bit more, told me to use and I said no. He kept doin’ it, I wouldn’t use though... finally he stuck a knife in my hand and looked me in the eye and told me if I ever told anyone he’d come after me and my family. He saw my I.D. in my wallet, and the pictures of my sister and her kids... and I believed him. I tried using the knife to get free.” Holder rolled up the sleeves of his hoodie to reveal thick bandages around his right wrist. “Took me a while to figure it out. After that I just went home, I’m not even sure how I got there I didn’t have my car, still don’t it’s back at the meeting place. Thought I was gonna pass out but I made it back, and just collapsed.”

Holder looked at her, “I’m sorry, I shoulda told you. I was just... scared. And I don’t like admitting that shit. That ain’t no excuse though.”

Sarah didn’t say anything for moment, and stared at Holder with a blazing look in her eye and her lips pressed hard together. “Have you seen anyone?”

His brow furrowed, confused at her question and response. It hadn’t been he’d expected to hear. “What? What d’ya mean?”

“You got the shit kicked out of you and you’re clearly concussed if your behavior today was anything to go by. Have you seen anyone or did wrap your wrists yourself?”

“N-no, I told you I passed out. And I stayed down, I think until you woke me up this morning.”

She let a small breath laced with a hint of annoyance. “Alright,” Sarah stood up and walked towards the office door. “Let’s go.”

“What? No, no!” Holder sounded frantic, he crossed the room in record time and held his hand against the door to keep it closed. “Don’t you get it Linden? No one can know. He knows where I live, if he finds out I told anyone he’ll go after my sister and her kids! You ca—”

“Do you trust me?” Sarah cut him off and looked into his eyes with an intense glare. When he didn’t answer right away she asked again slowly. “Do you trust me?”

Holder, desperation radiating out of his pores found himself staring down in her blue eyes and seeing a storm in the irises. “Yes.”

Sarah gave a sharp nod and pulled open the door, Holder’s arm limply fell to his side. “Then let’s go.”

——

Sitting in an uncomfortable stiff putrid purple chair Detective Linden took out her new cellphone and dialed a number before putting it to her ear. The phone rang a few times before someone answered.

“ _King County Coroner’s Office._ ”

“Yes hi, this is Detective Linden—”

“ _Detective,_ ” the coroner didn’t sound all too pleased, “ _mind telling me why that stunt was about a few hours ago?_ ”

“My partner had a family emergency, we didn’t mean to be rude or abrasive.”

“ _Ah, I understand._ ” His voice had only lightened a little bit.

“I was hoping I could as you a question, I didn’t have a chance to do so earlier.”

An audible sigh came through the speaker. “ _I was about to lock up, but I suppose._ ”

“Time of death,” she said matter of factly. “When did she die?”

“ _Just a moment._ ” There was some rustling followed by some clattering before the coroner spoke again.

“ _Alright, according to liver temp I believe Ms. Kelly died either late Wednesday night, early Thursday morning._ ”

Sarah opened her mouth to respond when a nurse wearing teal scrubs approached her. “Alright thanks.” She hung up the phone and stood up putting her hands into her pockets. “Is he ready?”

“Not quite,” the nurse shook her head, “the doctor would like a word with you.”

Sarah took a breath then closed her mouth into a tight lipped smile. “Alright then.”

The nurse led her through a set of double doors down a hallway of rooms with examination tables. A doctor wearing a white coat walked out of a room ahead and closed the door behind him before writing on a clipboard. He looked up as the nurse and Sarah approached and nodded acknowledgement to both of them. “Thanks Sandy.”

The nurse smiled and left the two of them in the hall. The doctor held out a hand. “You must be Linden.”

Sarah’s eyebrows rose in amusement as she extended her own hand. “I am.”

“May I ask why you didn’t bring Detective Holder to an emergency room?”

“I figured an urgent care would be just as suitable,” Sarah shrugged highly aware of the suspicious look the doctor was giving her.

“Yes well, when I mentioned filing a police report Detective Holder became very defensive. He insisted it wouldn’t be necessary and that things were being, and I quote: “taken care of”.” When Sarah didn’t respond the doctor took a deep breath through his nose and rested his clipboard on his stomach clasping his hands over it. “Detective your partner’s injuries are quite severe. I can’t think that this happened in the line of duty. He has multiple bruises and contusions, cracked ribs, a mild concussion, and he’s been branded.”

“I can assure you doctor that’s it is all being taken care of,” Sarah nodded making sure to sound polite.

“Meaning, you’ll file a report... yes?”

Sarah smiled at him kindly and nodded. The doctor didn’t seem completely convinced, but he sighed and went to look at his clipboard. “Alright...”

“Actually I did want to ask you one thing,” she said dropping the smile from her face. She waited until he was looking her in the eye again. “The brand... is there any way that’s going to heal? Go away?”

“No,” he said firmly. “He’ll have it for the rest of his life. Though plastic surgery is an option he can always consider in the future.”

Sarah didn’t let the dejection show on her face and nodded. “Right, thanks. Is he free to go?”

The doctor cleared his throat and knocked on the door before turning the handle and pushing it open. Sarah saw Holder sitting on an exam table with his back against the wall.

“You springing me from this joint?” He asked slurring his words and gazing at her with a dull look in his eye.

“We had to give him a dose of pain medication and it’s rather strong,” the doctor explained. “He has the rest of the prescription it goes down in dosage each day, he’s to take it regularly for the next 4 days along with the antibiotics we prescribed for the branding injury.” At the inquisitive look on her face he explained, “Unwanted bacteria can seep into the body during branding, especially if whoever performed the act used unsterilized equipment. It’s like a needle, it’s being pushed into your body. Well so is a branding iron, but in addition to being put into the body it also burns off skin. Antibiotics, twice a day no exceptions.”

Holder saluted the doctor. “Aye aye captain, can I go?”

The doctor shot Holder a displeased look, Sarah stepped in. “Thanks for everything doctor I appreciate it.” Then she went inside the room and stood by the exam table to address her partner. “You need help getting down?”

Holder shook his head stubbornly. “Nah, I got it.” He clutched his stomach as he slid to the edge and put his feet on the ground with a grunt of pain. “Where we goin’?”

“C’mon,” Sarah placed a hand on his back and led him out of the building the nurses watched them as they made their way out. The doors opened and the biting cold air hit them as they stepped outside.

Holder saw Sarah take out her key fob and unlock the car. “We goin’ for a ride Limbden?” He asked as he lumbered towards the car.

Sarah didn’t answer his question. “Get in.”

Holder climbed into the passenger seat while she got behind the wheel and started the engine. As she began to drive Holder leaned against the window and drew circles on the glass with his finger. He sat up suddenly and started to pat himself down. “Need my smokes.” His lips puckered as he said the word and stayed that way as he searched himself.

“Not tonight,” Sarah said with her eyes glued to the road.

He looked over at her giving off the impression of a curious puppy. “Why not?”

“You’re high as a kite, you don’t need nicotine.”

Holder contemplated her then he looked back out the window and sat silently for the rest of the ride. Sarah pulled into his apartment complex’s parking lot and slowly brought the car to a stop. Holder bobbed his head and climbed out of the car. “Thanks Lisbon.”

Sarah climbed out as well and started to follow him to the building. He heard her and spun around almost losing his footing. “What ya doin’?”

“I missed the last ferry home,” she said simply. “I need a place to crash.”

A sly smile spread across Holder’s face. “Well come on up to the dojo then.”

They walked up the stairs and to the door of his place, Holder patted himself down for his keys and took longer then normal to pull them out, concentrating hard on turning them in the lock. He stepped over the threshold into his place and tossed the keys onto his kitchen counter straight ahead before going to sit on the couch in the living room to the left all before Sarah had even closed the door.

Sarah locked the bolts on the door and took off her jacket putting it on the back of a stool-chair by the counter then she turned and saw Holder falling asleep on the couch. With a small sigh she walked over and tapped him on the face causing him to stir and look around wildly.

“C’mon Holder, you have a bed just down the hall.”

He gave her an alarming look. “You tellin’ me you wanna sleep together?”

“I’m saying you need to sleep in your own bed,” Sarah replied with a patience that only a mother could have. “Especially with those ribs, you should really be lying flat.”

“That bastard,” Holder growled with a somber expression. “He just kept swinging,” Sarah pulled him to his feet and they walked towards the hall. “I couldn’t get out, I tried real hard... thought I was gonna die.” They walked past the kitchen and were getting close to the door at the end of the hall. “I didn’t want to think about it, wanted to pretend nothin’ happened. Then I saw that girl on the morgue... if I had said somethin’ maybe she’d be alive.”

“She was attacked before you,” Sarah said simply as they made it to his bedroom. “We’ll talk about this more tomorrow, okay?”

Holder was quiet for the few minutes it took him to take off his shoes and belt with his Glock, handcuffs, and badge. “D’you think he’ll kill again?”

He’d asked the question quietly in an unexpected serious tone. When Sarah looked at his face she found him looking straight into her eyes, and she saw the hurt, worry, and hatred in his.

“I don’t know.” It was the most honest answer she could give.

Holder nodded solemnly and crawled into bed. “Thanks Sarah. For your help today.”

Taken aback at the use of her first name, she stood still for a moment before she nodded and shut off the light then closed the door.

November 17, 2013  
Day 3

A buzzing noise had Linden jolting awake from her light sleep and pointing her Glock at Holder’s front door. It didn’t take long for her to realize though that the buzzing wasn’t coming from the door or the hall outside but rather from her phone which had vibrated off of the couch and onto the floor.

Yesterday it hadn’t escaped Sarah’s attention that Holder had admitted his attacker knew where he lived. Furthermore to actually hear him admit he was scared was even more cause for alarm. If there had been another ferry last night, she would have made him pack his shit and go back to Vashon with her. But instead she played the role of a guard dog for both of their sakes and slept with her gun like some confederate hillbilly. And had almost blown a hole through his front door.

Sarah reached down for her phone and opened it before putting the device to her ear. “Linden here.”

“ _This is Seattle P.D. Dispatch, we have reports of a body matching the description of your other victim._ ”

Sarah shut her eyes tight and tried to control her breathing. “Alright... where?”

“ _Harbor Island._ ”

“Alright thanks.” Sarah closed the phone and shook her head as trepidation creeped into her gut, a small part of her wondered whether Holder would remember what he had asked the previous night. “D’you think he’ll kill again?”

Linden cursed under her breath and stood up putting the safety back on on her gun, before sliding it back in the holster. Then she walked down the hallway to Holder’s bedroom wondering how he’d be after the loopy pain meds last night. She knocked on the door. “Holder? I’m coming in.”

As the door swung open she could see that her intrusion had woken him. He looked rather confused to be in his own bed much less than seeing Sarah Linden in his bedroom. “The hell happened last night?”

“Nothing. You were pretty far gone on pain meds, so I put you to bed,” Sarah said matter of factly. “We just got another call about a body. Looks like the same killer.”

“Fuck...” Holder’s confusion turned into anguish. He ran a hand over his face, and sat up slowly. “Alright, gimme like five minutes.”

“You can have ten. Pack a bag, you’re not coming back here.”

“Whoa what?!” Holder moved to his feet fast regretting it a moment later as he stumbled with a bewildered look on his face. “The hell are you talkin’ about?”

Sarah looked at him pointedly. “Yesterday you told me that a crazed maniac knows where you live so until we catch him, you’re not staying here. Pack a bag, you can bunk at the station or with me your choice.” She turned to leave. “Nine minutes now!”

——

The chilly morning weather didn’t deter families from visiting Jim Holm Park on an early Sunday morning. While not very big the park offered a playground, skate park, basketball courts, picnic benches and large grassy areas making it a cute attraction for the locals. Wearing heavy coats and scarves, Mark and Daphne Kelly sat on a bench not too far away from the playground watching a bundled up Amy play on the swings.

“How do we tell her?” Mark mused watching Amy’s brown hair soar behind her as the swing moved forward.

Daphne let out a short huff and shook her head. “I don’t know.” She tilted her head as a thought came to mind. “You know she hasn’t asked about her in a while, maybe we could just...”

Mark gave her a reproachful look. “That doesn’t mean she doesn’t think about her Daph, or that she’s forgotten about her. It’s only been a year.”

Daphne deflated. “Right.”

The swing flew high and Amy jumped off of it and flew through the air.

“Careful Amy!” Mark had stepped forward but as he saw her land gracefully the take off running in a fit of giggles, he halted his steps and shook his head. “I hate it when they do that...”

“She’s much more graceful than Jess,” Daphne chuckled a fond smile forming on her face. “Remember? The first time I saw her in the air like that, I screamed her name so loud and she fell on her knees. They were scraped up so bad.”

“Maybe if you hadn’t screamed at her she would have gotten distracted,” Mark laughed.

Daphne nodded the smile on her face began to hurt her cheeks in the cold weather. Amy ran to the climbing wall on the jungle gym and scaled it in seconds. Daphne blew out a long breath, the air misted with her oxygen. “I think another twenty minutes... then we tell her.”

Mark nodded and put his hand down by his side gently folding his fingers around Daphne’s trembling hand slowly raising it up to his lips to plant a kiss on her knuckles.

——

Raphael stood outside of Cherry Street Coffee House with his arms crossed tucked into his body as he tried to keep warm. He went to the coffee house ever Sunday and met with Steve for about an hour. Usually he met the man outside but Steve hadn’t showed yet and Raphael was getting tired of freezing his ass off. Just about to call it a day and head inside he heard his name called.

“Yo Raph!”

Raphael turned and saw Steve jogging up to him looking apologetic. “Sorry man, crazy traffic. I only slept in five minutes I swear.”

“Usually the other way ‘round ain’t it?” Raphael said with a teasing grin.

“Yeah, yeah whatever...” Steve clapped a hand on the other man’s back. “C’mon let’s go in, get some work done.”

——

Harbor Island was in the mouth of the Duwamish River emptying out into Elliot Bay. It was an man-made island, used for commercial and industrial activities and was covered in warehouses, laboratories, shipment containers and others. There were no suburbs, apartments, or condos.

From Holder’s place in Capitol Hill they took the West Seattle Bridge to the exit for the island before winding down some other roads to the island.

“They say where at?” asked Holder, a subtle anger under lacing his words, though not directed at his partner.

“No,” Sarah shook her head shortly.

“Wonder how they found him.”

Her tongue darted out and wet her lips, “Maybe someone was mooring. They saw them and called it in. We’ll know soon enough.”

The West Seattle sky was an overcast gray, the patrol car lights reflected off of some containers that were inside the crime scene tape. The tape almost seemed redundant at first because of the remote location, but as Sarah climbed out of the car she noticed some of the shipyard workers gathering to look at the commotion. A uni standing in front of the barrier saw her and Holder approaching and lifted the tape for them to duck under.

Sarah saw the coroner ahead in between the containers, kneeling by a young black man whose limbs were splayed out at odd angles. The deceased’s dreadlocks cushioned his head and his eyes were wide open and dare she say, fearful.

“What happened?” Sarah asked simply, sure she knew the answer.

The coroner didn’t look up as he spoke. “Same as before, no obvious cause of death. But after yesterday’s discovery, I went ahead and checked this young man’s abdomen.” He reached down and lifted the victim’s shirt and there was the “A”.

“Alright,” Sarah sighed. “Do we have an ID?”

“We do.” The coroner held out a worn black wallet.

“Hold on,” Sarah turned right into Holder who held out a pair of latex gloves. She nodded her thanks and pulled them on before reaching out to take the wallet. She opened it and found a Washington State driver’s license as well as a Student ID. “Furnell Gray, 19-years-old, looks like he was a student at Seattle Central.”

“The community college off of Broadway?” asked Holder looking over her shoulder.

“Yeah,” she nodded then pulled out his license to take a closer look, “this address is in Seattle. I think it might be Fremont, but I’ll call Ray and have him check before we head out.” She looked back at the coroner. “Is there anything else?”

“Yes. He’s been dead less then two hours.”

“Fuck...” Holder turned and walked away.

Sarah clenched her jaw and nodded. “Okay, just gimme a call when we can see him.”


End file.
